|
When the international pros are in town for the US Open,
I've learned to keep my schedule loose and
commitment-free. During the other fifty
odd weeks of the year, photo shoots are
generally easy to predict, primarily happening
during the light-friendly early morning
or late afternoon hours. When the pros roll
into town though, photo shoots can happen
whenever and wherever.
Enter July Twentieth,
Two Thousand Nine...
An hour before noon
a text comes in from Claire Bevilacqua,
an amazingly talented surfer who comes from
one of the most wave-rich places on the
planet, Western Australia. Although she's
probably used to more or less perfect surf,
Claire has a tendency to choose the quirkiest
breaks around here while she's in town.
After a couple of text exchanges we agree
to meet at the "Secret Spot."
The Secret Spot is
normally not much of a surf break ...occasionally
peaky but primarily an ignored closeout
that is never crowded. I've checked it numerous
times over the past twenty years and have
only paddled out there twice.
When we arrived at
the spot, Claire was ready...amping on the
new board she had just picked up from Bill
Johnson. Claire never disappoints and I
knew we'd be getting some shots within a
few moments of setting up on the beach.
Surprisingly, the Secret Spot was delivering
some small but workable sandbar peaks.
When Claire was paddling
out I heard her yell out that Kassia was
out too. "Nice," I thought, shooting
with Kassia is always fun too.
Although zeroing
in on the dreaded photo hour of noon, the
waves were still glassy and the sun was
beginning to poke though the persistent
marine layer. As I was dialing in new settings
for the changing conditions, I heard a "Chris!"
down the beach and looked up to see Rochelle
Ballard and snowboard extraordinaire Chanelle
Sladics waxing up on the shoreline.
Stoked on my growing
good fortune, my friend Kelly Nicely walked
up holding her trusty old (and almost wooden
looking) shortboard. Like Kassia, Kelly
had just returned home from the Roxy Jam
Biarritz, site of the annual ASP Women's
World Longboarding Championship. We talked
briefly before Kelly hit the surf.
With
my eyes trained on the surfers in front
of me, Kassia floating a left, Bevo obliterating
a right with a massive layback snap, Rochelle
throwing spray on her new Merrick, I suddenly
noticed two other surfers had snuck out
without me seeing them. Hmmm, Channel Islands,
Roxy...could it be? To my surprise none
other than Lee-Ann Curren had just made
her way into the lineup at the Secret Spot,
accompanied by French pro Amandine Sanchez.
|
